Reading List: Universal Fatness!

Two links today:

Link the first is this delicious post from Fillyjonk on the perpetual Exception:

One thing that claims of this nature have in common is, of course, a particularly navel-gazing kind of hasty generalization — “because something is true for me, it must be true for everyone.” Of all the common informal fallacies, this one might make me see the reddest, because it’s not only logically unsound but fundamentally arrogant and egotistical. But another thing they have in common, and this is what really drives me batshit bonkers, is that they actually prove our point. “So, you say you have been roughly the same weight for most of your adult life, and when extenuating circumstances made you deviate significantly from that weight, it was like you naturally settled back to your usual size? I’ll be blowed… it’s almost as if you couldn’t effect permanent changes in your body weight! Someone should write a blog about this!”

There are many things in which we – on a cultural level – are willing to assume broad differences between bodies, while understanding that said differences are not unnatural or problematic for the body the question, no matter how unfamiliar they may be. Mothers will convene at length on the differences between their experiences of pregnancy and childbirth. Athletes can discuss their strengths and challenges given their individual instruments. These conversations are possible in a non-universalizing, non-judging way. We just don’t have them about fatness.

Link the second, on a cheerier note, is this fantastic recap from the Fatshionista LiveJournal community, of the opening party for Re/Dress, New York’s newest and most fabulous (and only) plus-size-exclusive vintage boutique. The photos are particularly spectacular and inspiring. My urge to visit NYC in the immediate future continues to rise.

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